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Woman charged with 1st-degree murder in stabbing death

Prosecutors on Tuesday filed a first-degree murder charge against a 19-year-old woman, alleging she aimed to kill 20-year-old Ramon Sandoval when she stabbed him earlier this month.

Amy Adamson Gonzalez, of Grand Junction, also was charged with second-degree murder, first-degree assault and tampering with physical evidence. She faces two separate crime-of-violence sentence-enhancing charges.

Adamson, who has picked up two felony convictions since she turned 18 in June 2008, was charged with two counts of being a habitual criminal. Convictions on the habitual criminal counts alone carry a maximum 72 years in prison.

In an extraordinary step, Flynn ordered the public gallery to remain seated during the hearing, threatening patrons with arrest if they stood up.

“We received information there may be a disruption, so we added extra security,” Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Heather Benjamin said.

Benjamin declined to elaborate.

According to an arrest affidavit, Adamson Gonzalez admitted to police she took a knife from her kitchen after a fight on the evening of Jan. 15, then stabbed Sandoval, who later died from his injury.

She first denied an altercation had taken place outside her apartment at Monument Ridge Town Homes, 2680 B 1/2 Road, but later told another story.

“She said she did not mean to kill him and did not think he was hurt very bad,” the affidavit said.

The affidavit said she told police she hid the knife in a snowbank next to her apartment. The affidavit alleges that, after she learned Sandoval had died, she threw the knife into an open field near the apartment complex.

Sandoval was discovered dead in the parking lot of the complex around 9:30 a.m. on Jan. 16.